Recent Posts

5826

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for advice maintaining a small computer network.

« Last post by Carol Haynes on June 08, 2006, 08:10 AM »

I suppose a lot of schools would consider $750 a lot of money - but if they pay you on a per visit basis that would be recouped very quickly.

It also has the advantage that teachers know that every computer will be in a known and predictable state at the start of every lesson!! As an ex-teacher I can't tell you what I would have paid personally for that !!!!!

5827

Living Room / Re: SPAM reaching epidemic proportions

« Last post by Carol Haynes on June 08, 2006, 08:06 AM »

Thanks - it seems to work

I will give it a week or two!

5828

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows vista beta preview program begins

« Last post by Carol Haynes on June 08, 2006, 07:57 AM »

Not a download for the fainthearted

5829

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for advice maintaining a small computer network.

« Last post by Carol Haynes on June 08, 2006, 07:38 AM »

Why not use Faronics DeepFreeze ? (see http://www.faronics..../html/deepfreeze.asp)

To reset a computer back to the 'fresh install' state all you have to do is reboot the system.

Only problem is you have done yourself out of a job

5830

Living Room / Re: SPAM reaching epidemic proportions

« Last post by Carol Haynes on June 08, 2006, 07:36 AM »

OK I am stumped - how do I write a regex expression to match a string that has multiple occurences of the word 'carol' in it (preferably 3 or more occurrences)? Learning regex is like having your teeth pulled without anaesthetic !!

I tried using regexbuddy - but Mailwasher's regex flavour doesn't recognise all of the tokens regexbuddy generates !!

Mouser - there is also a server side Mailwasher system that is free/open source - it might be worth checking out. See this page http://oss.firetrust.com/home/ It seems you can set it up to filter all email coming in and then users can access any 'quarantined' mail via a web interface.

5831

Living Room / Re: SPAM reaching epidemic proportions

« Last post by Carol Haynes on June 08, 2006, 06:25 AM »

Yes as I typed that message I rethought about mailwasher. I just need to learn how to write regular expressions again now - every time I try to write one it feels like I am starting again from scratch - a sign of age I think!

5832

Living Room / Re: SPAM reaching epidemic proportions

« Last post by Carol Haynes on June 08, 2006, 05:40 AM »

Does anyone know a filter system (like MailWasher) that allows you to define complex rules ... if I could specify something like:

if header contains more than 3 copies of "carol" delete mail

it would be really useful as I could get rid of about 50% of my rubbish in one go.

5833

Living Room / Re: SPAM reaching epidemic proportions

« Last post by Carol Haynes on June 08, 2006, 05:33 AM »

The trouble with the 'real human' test is that it would kill email newsletters - how would you fancy manually verifying every DC newsletter that is posted ?

5834

Living Room / SPAM reaching epidemic proportions

« Last post by Carol Haynes on June 08, 2006, 05:10 AM »

I don't know about others but I am finding that I am receiving spam at an alarming rate these days (at least 3 x a s much as my normal mail - often more).

A lot of it comes from people simply blitzing my ISPs email address systems with exvery conceivable combination of carol in the persoanl part of the address - which is damn annoying.

I am also finding my own domain names are becoming susceptible to spam too. I have just set up filters so that only email addressed to specific email addresses are allowed though on my own domains and everything else is redirected to [email protected] - a free dumping service!

More worrying though is that one of my addresses seems to be a target for the spoofers - I am getting loads of 'mail undeliverable' messages from ISPs - and they look like genuine notifications. Is there any way to stop this - otherwise I am likely to get my domains blocked by antispam organisations?

The big problem is that I have various spam filtering options on my computer and 99.5% of spam is correctly identified. The trouble is that part of the 0.5% of wrong stuff includes some personal mail that is incorrectly classified as spam so I have to wade through pages of email headers for Viagra and harder erections!!!

What do other people do or am I suffering worse than most from the spam blitz?

5835

General Software Discussion / Re: A Warning about Thinkall.com

« Last post by Carol Haynes on June 08, 2006, 04:57 AM »

Given that they are located in the US have you thought of reporting the situation to credit card companies?

They must allow them to accept credit card orders and will not be happy with this short of sharp practice. You may at least get there credit card ordering system taken down. Similarly with PayPal - it might be worth checking it out.

As you say there are no links working on the credit card page at all (except for hacker safe and the two at the bottom!). I went through the process (except for entering CC details) and wasn't asked to agree to anything other than tick the small box under the credit card details. This is out and out fraud as far as I can see and breaks all the guidelines credit card companies issue on clear pricing.

There is also a plain lie on the final page "We ship UPS" - there is no way they can ship to the UK by UPS for $2.95 (or even a month's 'subscription' fee).

By the way if anyone fancies complaining the details are:

   Tel: +1.4252740657
   Fax: +1.4256960234
   PMB 368, 14150 NE 20th St - F1
   C/O thinkall.com
   Bellevue, WA 98007
   US

Maybe we should all send them a fax (that would make them think).

5836

Living Room / Re: Dinky MP3 player - cheap and fun ...

« Last post by Carol Haynes on June 07, 2006, 06:32 PM »

Strange - they said £34.99 on the page I looked at but now it says it is discontinued ... look at the bottom of the page.

Weird thing is they were advertising them today in their email flyer. Maybe they had such a rush they have sold out and can't get any more.

5837

General Software Discussion / Scott Finnie unimpressed by NOD32 ...

« Last post by Carol Haynes on June 07, 2006, 04:20 PM »

Interesting read why ... he (like the rest of us) is looking for the best AV solution. I thought NOD32 was good (having now used it uneventfully for a couple of years) by Scott asks some interesting questions.

Article here: AVIII, Previous AV articles here: AV II, Off Symantec

5838

Living Room / Dinky MP3 player - cheap and fun ...

« Last post by Carol Haynes on June 07, 2006, 04:03 PM »

Just saw this - basically a 1Gb USB thumb drive which doubles as an MP3/WMA player.

1GB MP3 Player Information:
1GB USB FlashMP3 Player
• High capacity 1GB MP3 player

• Holds approximately 20 albums

• Supports MP3 and WMA files

• Can be used as a USB flash disk to store data

• Optional colour displays

• Digital voice recording
• Mulit-language system
• 7- mode equalizer modes
• Telephone book
• Repeat function
• Hold function
• Long time playback


Our lowest ever price for a 1GB MP3


1GB MP3 Player Specifications:
Dimension    84.6 x 26 x 20.6mm    
Weight    28g (without battery)    
LCD Display    128 x 32 LCD, blue backlight    
PC Connection    USB Rev 2.0    
Flash Memory    128MB/256MB/512MB/1GB Flash chip    
Battery    1 x AAA battery    
     MAx: Play time 10 hours    
MP3, WMA, WMV, ASF    WMA, WMV, ASF bit rate    5k bps - 384 bps
Frequency response    
MP3 bit rate    
Music-Format    MP3/WAV    
Operating System    Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP/MAc OS, Linux

UK company - not sure if it is available elsewhere (or if they ship overseas) ...

http://www.maplin.co...14321&T=11062344

5839

General Software Discussion / Windows VISTA review by Scot Finnie

« Last post by Carol Haynes on June 07, 2006, 03:59 PM »

Interesting review from Scot Finnie.

Visual Tour: 20 Things You Won't Like About Windows Vista
Scot Finnie   Today’s Top Stories    or  Other Windows Stories 
 
Trials and Tribulations of Delivering Enterprise Applications over a WAN

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" Now I'm mad. Not VA-screws-over-26.5-million-vets mad or Microsoft-bullies-its-customers mad, I admit. But those are things just about anyone..." Read more...
Read more Windows posts or See all Blogs

June 01, 2006 (Computerworld) -- The same thing happened with Windows XP. When Beta 2 arrived, I found myself torn between what was new and good about the operating system, and what was new and bad.

Significant negatives back in 2001 included product activation (which doesn't affect Microsoft volume licensing customers), changes to the network-configuration user interface and the way XP interacted with other versions of Windows on small networks. Was Windows XP truly better than Windows 2000? It was a toss-up in many ways. In the end, I went with the improved app compatibility and user interface improvements of XP. But it wasn't by much.

Well, Microsoft just upped the ante on internal conflict with the release of Vista Beta 2. It boils down to this: The software giant is favoring security and IT controls over end-user productivity. Don't get me wrong, security and IT manageability are very good things. But some of the people actually using the Beta 2 Vista software describe their experience as akin to that of a rat caught in a maze.

Business and home users will be nonplussed by the blizzard of protect-you-from-yourself password-entry and "Continue" boxes required by the User Account Controls feature, for example. Networking functions and settings are scattered all over the place. The same is true of what Windows XP calls Display Properties. By default, the main menus (you know, File, Edit, View, etc.) are turned off on Windows Vista folders, Internet Explorer 7 and several other programs and utilities that come with Vista. Listing 20 things you won't like about Windows Vista was unfortunately all too easy. The question is: Why couldn't Microsoft see this coming?

Read the whole thing (all 13+ pages) at http://www.computerw...mp;articleId=9000829

5840

General Software Discussion / Free PDF creation (PrimoPDF)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on June 07, 2006, 03:44 PM »

Not heard of this one before - I don't need it but I thought others might be interested:

http://www.primopdf.com/

Free for non-commercial use.

Convert to PDF from any application by simply 'printing' to the PrimoPDF® printer - it couldn't be easier! Within minutes, you can create high-quality PDFs by converting from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and virtually any other printable file type.

      Download PrimoPDF Now!
    * FREE PDF Converter - not a trial version.
    * Print to PDF from virtually any application.
    * Create PDF output optmized for print, screen, ebook, or prepress.
    * No annoying pop-up ads, no registration requirement - no catch!
    * High-quality, easy to use PDF creator for all users.

*Windows 98 users should download version 1.0 here.

    * NEW! Secure PDFs with 40-/128-bit encryption, allowing the highest level of security for your PDF files. Settings include password to open, password to change, disable printing, disable text/graphics copying, disable commenting, disable text editing, disable page addition.
    * NEW! Add document information (e.g. title, author, subject, keywords) to converted PDF files, resulting in faster and easier searching of PDF documents.

5841

Living Room / Re: Recommendations for good external hard drive solutions?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on June 07, 2006, 10:17 AM »

Not particularly for or against any particular make/model. I went for WD Caviar drives because they had the reputation of being fast and they weren't esp. expensive.

CostCo isn't much used to me - I have to buy this sort of thing on the internet or else drive 150 mile round trip to find a shop with some choice!

5842

Living Room / Re: Article: A Sixth Sense for a Wired World - implanting a magnet in your finger

« Last post by Carol Haynes on June 07, 2006, 09:02 AM »

The was a program on TV the other day about people in Germany (at least I think it was Germany) lining up to be 'chipped' so that they can be their own credit/membership card at night clubs. If they want to buy a drink at the bar the barman simply scans their shoulder. This is happening for real now ... over my dead body I say (though given the political climate in the UK I wouldn't be surprised if all corpses aren't tagged before long!).

Orwellian or what ... maybe a new corporation called 666 is about to emerge and the post apocalytic age is about to start.

5843

Living Room / Swaptree ... a new concept in trading?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on June 07, 2006, 06:24 AM »

This looks like an interesting idea. Ebay - sort of -without the money changing hands

Have a look at this article:

http://reviews.cnet....194.html?tag=nl.e501

5844

Living Room / Re: Recommendations for good external hard drive solutions?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on June 07, 2006, 04:31 AM »

I had a Maxtor in the late 90's and it died on me, and I've never bought Maxtor again.

-superboyac (June 06, 2006, 07:05 PM)

I have had a couple of Maxtor drvies go bad over the years - it happens doesn't necessarily mean Maxtor are bad (or worse thatn other manufacturers). In both cases I was warned by SMART on my system in advance of full failure and I lost no data. In both cases Maxtor replaced the drive with no quibbles at all - they even sent the replacement out before I returned the dying drive to save me having a period without a drive. Both were at the limits of their warranty period too. Good service I thought.

I have 4 x WD ATA drives now in my system - which seem pretty reliable (touch wood) and fast.

I wonder about Seagate's Barracuda drives - they are very nice drives (quick and quiet) but I can't help wondering about the temperatures they reach. It is great having quiet drives but they seem to acheive this by insulating them so that the sound can't get out - unfortunately this means the heat can't either. I tried a pair of Barracuda's a few years back for a RAID setup (unfortunely it was in the early years of the Barracudas and they didn't work well in RAID - a known firmware bug which I think is now fixed) but they got so hot you couldn't touch them. Not only is this worrying for the drives but for the rest of the system - if I wanted an electric fire in my case ....

5845

Best Music Service / Re: tech crunch article comparing music services

« Last post by Carol Haynes on June 06, 2006, 02:21 PM »

Maybe, maybe not - don't forget the people quoted (BPI) are the music industry attempting to bring a law suit (the UK equivalent of the IFPI).

They have tried before in Russia and not been able to bring it to court.

As for bringing the case in the UK I can't see how the UK/US courts can rule on a Russian business based entirely in Russia - how can they enfoce any judgement? Presumably they could block internet access to the site (which I believe is already the case in Germany) but short of sending in the SAS/CIA to 'extract' them to the UK/US there isn't much they can do unless Russia changes the law and applies it retrospectively.

The BPI have said they aren't going to chase site users (presumably because it would be a massive undertaking - with no certainty of winning). It isn't illegal to import music from a legal source in the UK and so far, at least, AllofMP3 has been considered legal in Russia so no one in the UK has violated copyright by purchasing from the site.

5846

General Software Discussion / Re: How to easily program/play a "web navigation session"

« Last post by Carol Haynes on June 06, 2006, 06:39 AM »

Not sure but you may be able to do something like this in website watcher.

Otherwise how about a macro scripting language?

5847

General Software Discussion / Re: Blog mirroring/syndication and aggregation help.

« Last post by Carol Haynes on June 06, 2006, 03:13 AM »

Another way to acheive it would be to have a frame based website where you provide a blog for those who want it or a window onto the blogs of people who have already set up their blog (ie. you just view their exisiting blog page in your own frame).

Then the external blogs could be accessed and updated from both sites (the original and yours).

If the exisiting blogs have RSS feeds you could perhaps automate grabbing new posts to add to your home page.

5848

Living Room / Re: Do we care about HD-DVD/Blu-Ray?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on June 05, 2006, 06:09 PM »

Personally I can't really see the point - what ever they produce is only going to produce marginally better pictures for films and the rest of the stiuff will be crap like most of the extras they put on DVDs now. Unless the movie companies are going to start paying for some real WOW factor extras where is the incentive to move up to a larger capacity format.

Can't help feeling that home recording is going to be prone to huge numbers of errors too - no one actually lives or works in an hermetically sealed sterile environment and I can't see how the density of data will be acheivable constistently in a normal environment. Presumably they will have to build in some error recovery system to cope with all the glitches!

Whilst HD-DVD/Blu-Ray would potentially be great for backing up hard discs dual layer DVDs have never really captured the market that much - and the media is still ridiculously expensive (at least in the UK). I think it will be an awful long time before the prices drop enough to make them cost effective - and if the movie industry has their way theyu will stay at high prices as long as possible.

Final thought - if they do start pushing out anything useful I would tend to side with anything non-Sony - after their rootkit debacle I think everyone should boycott any format they come up with!

5849

Living Room / Re: June 4 Podcast

« Last post by Carol Haynes on June 05, 2006, 06:04 AM »

I always thought it was nude-one !! I just assumed he had something he was proud of (sorry did I really say that)

5850

Post New Requests Here / Re: Want to play a game without putting the CD in place

« Last post by Carol Haynes on June 05, 2006, 05:59 AM »

This one looks particulalry good - and answers my request for a virtual burner !!

http://www.virtualcd...ew/v8detail.cfm?lg=0

It does however cost 40 dollars/euro